


The Sound of Grief

by Bombus -Pascuorum (webslinger9_5am)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), NO graphic depiction of injury, involuntary drug use, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22066699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/webslinger9_5am/pseuds/Bombus%20-Pascuorum
Summary: When he was thirteen, Zuko's father tried to burn the chaos spirit, Vaatu, out of him with fire. Failing this (as well as keeping them both contained afterward), he banished Zuko from the Fire nation.Two years hence Iroh finds Zuko as the avatar of chaos, traveling with his teachers.They should have known better than to leave him alone with the Dragon of the West.My take on a particular thread of muffinlance's chaos!avatar Zuko
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko, Yue & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 32
Kudos: 1079





	The Sound of Grief

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts).



> FINAL WARNING: this is not a happy scene. It involves screaming and a fairly substantial breach of trust.   
>  Read at your own discretion.  
> If there are any tags I should add, please tell me.

Zuko took another sip of his tea as his uncle continued to apologize for the state the Fire Lord had left him in. He could really care less about his father's views on family right now. As well intentioned as his "cleansing" and subsequent banishment had been, they still left him half blind and alone for two years before even trying to do anything about it. Maybe things would have been different if they'd succeeded in removing the spirit from him. 

For all his grumpiness and questionable moral decisions, even Vaatu had balked at what the Fire Lord had done to his own son. It had been something they'd discussed at length in numerous occasions until the spirit had been satisfied that Zuko understood family wasn't supposed to hurt you that way.

Zuko blinked and shook his head as the room swayed. It was only then that he noticed Iroh hadn't touched his own tea.

The cup slipped from Zuko's numb fingers with a loud clatter as he tried to rise and failed, tumbling back. He clawed at the ground to get away as General Iroh- not the loving uncle he remembered from his childhood- stood, gaze cold.

"W-what did you do to me?" Zuko asked, heart in his throat, as he still scrambled to get as far from the man as possible. Betrayal mixed with fear, making it difficult to get a full breath in but he'd never needed much air for screaming. "What did you do?!"

"I put a sleeping draught in your tea." General Iroh stepped around the low table.

Zuko's back hit the center pole of the tent. His gaze flew around the tent, searching for another exit, and found none. Suddenly, what had felt like an open space was small and cramped.

"Don't worry," the old man continued calmly, crouching over the banished prince, "The ritual won't kill you. It will only send you back to the spirit world." He reached toward the burns on the teen's face where the spirit had been most visible moments before.

Zuko flinched away and slapped the offending hand aside with a shuddering breath, "Don't  _ touch _ me!" He yelled, scrambling clumsily around the tent pole to gain distance between them.

Iroh grabbed one of his ankles and he lashed out with his free foot with little effect. He hadn't caught on to the General's scheme in time. 

_ You should have expected it, dumb dumb. The whole palace heard what was happening the first time and he didn't stop it then. _

"No! Let me go!" Zuko grit his teeth and twisted free for a brief desperate moment before a heavy weight pinned his lower legs to the tent floor and cold metal bit into his ankle.

"Uncle, why are you _ doing _ this?!" Zuko screamed because this was his  _ uncle _ .

Uncle Iroh, the one family member besides his mother who'd never tried to kill him in his fifteen years of life. Uncle Iroh who preached patience and kindness over violence and cruelty.

Uncle Iroh who stared at him now with a gaze colder than the boy had ever seen his _ father _ manage.

"I'm doing this to save my nephew," his uncle replied in a grave tone.

Tears stung Zuko's eyes and his voice cracked, "Uncle,  _ please _ , I'm right here. It's me. I'm me."

It was getting harder to focus but with him looming so close, Zuko saw when something hardened further in his uncle's gaze and the tears that had been forming in the boy's eyes fell.

Because this  _ was _ his uncle and he didn't have the strength to fight anymore.

"Please," he whispered in a last ditch effort to keep his uncle from hurting him, "Don't."

Something like grief flickered in Iroh's eyes then but it didn't matter. He had made his choice.

"I'm sorry," The old man's hand ignited.

Zuko's remaining eye dimmed as the flame sent his mind far away.

His absence didn't stop the screams.

The screams didn't stop Iroh.

Earth did that.

A small pillar of it that shot the old general from the tent like an arrow.

It didn't bring Zuko back.

The earth rumbled and a thousand shards of ice pinned the old General to the ground by his clothes because this was Zuko's _ uncle _ and he wouldn't want to see him harmed even now.

The gold spirit exited the tent where her brother was being held with a shriek rage. The ice vaporized and her flames nearly glowed white.

Iroh deflected them and this only served to engrave the spirit more.

"He _ trusted _ you!" The gold spirit screamed with fire at her fingertips, too furious to summon lightning because  _ this _ had been their uncle and she'd trusted him too.

Iroh looked between the three angered spirits and chose retreat.

Water hissed into steam behind him as fire snapped at his heels and the earth snarled its displeasure.

The gold spirit let out another wordless shriek that shot ice through the old man's blood.

He didn't dare look back.

The spirit wailed.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Feedback is welcome


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